With the start of the new year, it was time to make myself a new 2008 calendar. I had a couple of personal requirements. I wanted it to be color coordinated with my home, be functional and durable, and it had to look "nice".
Here is what I came up with... a magnetic calendar.
This was really quite simple and fun to make. The very first thing I did was to decide what color scheme I was going to use. I decided on a palette of browns, greens, sunflower, and a bit of cinnamon. I chose printed papers from Basic Grey (Fusion) that would compliment the palette.
I used a wooden 12 x 12 Vertical Album from Glue Art & Paper Studio (they are also available in two smaller sizes). The Vertical Album comes with metal rings to hang clear scrapbook album pages. I didn't want to use the plastic pages for my calendar, so I made this magnet board. For the magnet board I purchased...
- inexpensive metal frame (WalMart)
- galvanized metal flashing (Home Depot)
- package of magnetic sheets (Avery brand - WalMart)
I cut a piece of metal flashing and inserted it into the metal frame in place of the glass that came with it. The metal cuts easily with a good pair of utility scissors or tin snips. I attached two hanging clips to the top of the frame with my Cropadile. I put the frame back together making sure it was snug with all of the cardboard and filler that came with it. The magnet board was ready to hang on the frame.
Next, I made all of the components for my calendar. I needed to make a calendar for each month, month names, and some decorative elements to use on the magnetic board.
I envisioned having a lot of magnetic elements available to me to use at the beginning of each month when I set up that months calendar. I wanted to be able to interchange everything, using items in different spots on my board, and for whatever month I wanted. I wanted to be able to make more magnetic elements as time goes by, and to reuse the calendar months from year to year (with only a couple of new ones to make in each new year).
I printed a calendar for each month. You can print calendars from many free sites, but I made mine using Excel. I just printed them randomly on different colored card stock. I stamped some of them with soft images and layered them onto printed paper and colored card stock. I embellished some of the calendar months with mini brads, prima flowers, and photo turns. I attached the calendars to the magnetic sheets and trimmed them with my rotary trimmer. The magnetic sheets are very thin and flexible. Some magnetic sheets come with adhesive already on them, and others you need to add adhesive. I had to add adhesive using the xyron.
Each months name was stamped on cardstock, using the Garamouche alphabet stamp set from Purple Onion Designs.
On ivory cardstock, I stamped bird and flower images (Green Pepper Press) using softly colored inks. I wanted the images to be very subtle. I attached them to the magnet sheets. The birds were trimmed with scissors, and the floral images were punched with a circle punch.
I also had two pieces of DCWV colored chipboard (beige and green) that I attached dimensional magnets to the back of. I added two little small silver clips to each board. These can be used as a mat for ever changing photos. The clips can be moved so that photos can be turned either direction (landscape/portrait). In addition, I took a small Formica sample chip, covered it with card stock, added a dimensional magnet to the back, added a small silver clip, and some ribbon. This can be used to announce or remind me of any special occasions... like someones birthday or anniversary.
I stamped floral images on ivory cardstock. The stamps used are from Hero Arts, and colored with Marvy Markers. I tied coordinating ribbons around the images, and matted them on cardstock and then attached them to magnet sheet.
At this point, I was almost done making my 2008 calendar. All I had left to do was to paint my Vertical Album. I painted it using a couple of coats of acrylic paint. I took a narrow strip of printed paper and glued it to the edge of the base of the Vertical Album. I tied the magnet board to the frame with a neutral ivory twill tape.
I was now ready to see what arrangements I could make using the elements I made. This was the fun part of this project. Here are a few samples of what I came up with. Each month will have a new look!
I am very happy with my new calendar. I couldn't have made it without my Glue Art & Paper Vertical Album. I know I will be using this for years to come!
Have a great 2008!
